Smelting-furnace



(No Model): 3 Sheets-Sheet 1;.

w. L. AUSTIN. SMELTING FURNACE.

No. 460,193. Patented Sept. 29, 189 1.

( No Model.)

2 M G h S .W 8 8 h S 3 N I T S U A L W.

SMELTING FURNACE.

No.460,'193. Patented Sept. 29, 1891 '(No Model.) 3 8heetsSheet a.

W. L. AUSTIN. SMELTING FURNACE.

Patented Sept. 29, 1891.

NORRIS PETEnS ca.,Puo1o-umo.,msumumn u c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE XVILLIAM LAXVRENCE AUSTIN, OF TOSTON, MONTANA.

SMELTING-FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 460,193, dated September 29, 1891. Application filed March 26, 1889. Serial No. 304,799. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM LAWRENCE AUSTIN, of 'loston, in the county of Meagher, and in the State of Montana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Smelting-Furnaces; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows aviewof myfurnace in side elevation; Fig. 2, a vertical section of the same on line x .68 of Fig. 1;'Fig. 3, a transverse horizontal section on line 1 got Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 a similar section on line z of Fig. 2.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of the figures.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved furnace for use in smelting; and to this end my invention consists in the furnace and in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the parts thereof, as hereinafter specified.

In my pending application, Serial No.

301,558, for United States Letters Patent I set forth and claim aeertain process for smelting iron and copper pyrites, zinc-blende, and natural or artificial sulphides and sulphurets of useful metals. I also describe and show, but do not claim, in such application a furnace adapted for the carrying out of said process. This furnace, which, while especially in tend ed for use in working the process, is adapted for other purposes, and is of use wherever it is desirable to feed a part or the whole of the charge of the furnace down to a certain point therein without its being subjected to the heat or products of combustion within the furnace, and also where it is desired to prevent the deposit of sulphurand volatile products upon the walls of a smelting-furnace above the zone of fusion, I intend to cover by the claims in the present application.

The furnace will be described asconstructed and used for the carrying out of my process; but I desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to any particular method of using the furnace or the parts thereof.

The main body A of the furnace shown in the drawings is similar in shape andwconstruction to that of an ordinary blast cupolafurnace, and is supported orbraced from without bythe four pillars A A. Into the lower contracted portion of the furnace-body at points above the level of the exit B for drawing-off the molten products are the main tuyeres C O of the usual construction fordischarging into the furnace a blast of air. In the furnace as used in carrying out my said process these tuyeres are connected with a source of supply of hot air under pressure; but where desired they can, of course, be supplied with cold air or any required gas or gases to be injected instead of with the hot air, as used in my process. The exit or outflow spout B for the molten products discharges into the receiver D. An overflow D, opening from the upper edge of this receiver, serves to draw off the slag from the top of the receiver contents, while the dischargespout D communicating with the lower interior portion of the receiver, serves to draw off the matte.

The body and base of the furnace and the receiver can be made of any material or combinations of materials to suit the purposes for which the furnace is to .be used.

The general form of the f urnace-bod y and the shape, arrangement, material, and construction of the supporting or bracing devices for the furnace-body can also be varied as desired without departure from my invention.

Around the upper portion of the furnacebody is an annular passage or chamber E, into which the gases, fumes, and products of combustion pass from the furnace through the openings E E. Communicating with this passage is the downtake F for conduct ing away. the gases and products of combustion from the passage.

Supported vertically and centrally within the interior of the furnace-body is the cylinder G, of smaller diameter than the space within the furnace walls. This cylinder, which is preferably of cast or wrought iron, is made with hollow walls, as shown, leaving an annular space G, through which water, air, or other cooling-fluid can be made to circulate, so as to prevent the destruction of the cylinder by the heat Within the furnace,

or the penetration of such heat through the cylinder-walls. For the admission of the water or other cooling-fluid to the space G ICO ' feed through the hopper-opening.

there is a pipe G to be connected with a suitable source of supply of the fluid opening into the top of said space. The outletpipe G communicating with the space at a point diametrically opposite to pipe G allows outflow of the cooling-fluid, so as to insure and keep up the desired circulation of the fluid. The cylinder can be supported in any desired way, so as to leave a passage or space up around it between its outer side and the inner walls of the furnace. I prefer to support it, as shown, by means of radial lugs or ears GR G resting upon an annular shoulder or abutment A on the furnace-walls. The lower end of the cylinder, which extends downwithin the furnace to a point near the zone of fusion, is preferably contracted slightly, as shown, though I do not limit myself to such construction.

In the furnace as used in my process the point at which the cylinder ends is about five feet above a plane passing through the centers of the main tuyere openings.

For different-sized furnaces and to suit different purposes the cylinder can be made longer or shorter to extend a greater or less distance down within the furnace-body. \Vithin the cylinder near its lower contracted end is the hopper I-I, having its walls inclined downwardly and inwardly toward each other at a slight angle and then turned outwardly at an abrupt angle. This hopper can be formed on the inner wall of the cylinder or made separately and then fastened in place in any desired way. For acting in connection with this hopper to close and open the same or to regulate the space through which the hopper contents can pass downward I provide the bell or cone H, having its base of substantially the same diameter as the hopper-opening. Such bell or cone is attached to the lower end of the rod H which passes up through a guid ing cross-brace H Within the cylinder. In the upper end of said cylinder is the hopper H and supported on the upper edge of the latter is the spider H through an opening in the center or hub of which is tapped the threaded upper portion of rod H A hand wheel H on the upper end of the rod provides means for turning the latter to screw it up or down to raise or lower the bell H with reference to the hopper H. A stop collar or shoulder H on the rod below the guiding cross bar or'brace H serves as a stop to engage such bar and stop the upward movement of the rod when the bell is raised, so as to closewith its lower end or base the passage through the hopper, as shown in Fig. 2. WVith this construction and arrangement the operator can know when the rod has been screwed up far enough to close the hopper H, and can then, by screwing down the rod, accurately adjust the bell H as desired with relation to the hopper, so as to allow the requisite rate of A third hopperI is placed at the upper end of the furnace. Surrounding the cylinder G at a distance therefrom, it is adapted to receive and guide any material down into the annular space within the furnace, between the furnace-walls and the outside of the cylinder.

Opening into the furnace on a plane above the lower end of the cylinder and therefore above the zone of fusion or smelting-zone are the tuyeres K K, preferably smaller than the main tuyeres. There are several of these tu'yeres so arranged as to introduce jets of air from all sides of the f urnace-body. These tuyeres, which can be connected with any desired source of supply of air, hot or cold, or gases, are, when the furnace is being used to carry out my process, as set forth in my said other pending application, employed for the admission of a blast of cold air in order to consume or prevent the deposit upon the furnace-walls of sulphur and other volatilized substances arising from the zone of fusion.

IVhile I have shown the furnace and cylinder as round in cross-section, I desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to such shape. Both the furnace and the cylinder can be, inst-cad, made square, elliptical, rectangular, or of other forms without departure from my invention. The cylinder, instead of being of metal with hollow walls and water or air cooled,can be formed of any refractory substance capable of resisting the high temperature within the furnace and of preventingthe passage of heat through its walls; but I prefer to make it of metal with the hollow walls, as shown and described here inbefore.

The smelting process for which my furnace is shown and described is especially intended for the smelting of iron and copper pyrites, zinc-blende, and other natural and artificial sulphurets or sulphides of useful metals. By it I am enabled to maintain the necessary heat and to keep up the reduction of the ore without the admixture of any carbonaceous fuel with the smelting charge after the furnace has been heated up. Said process is fully set forth in my other pending application and need not, therefore, be set forth at length herein.

In order to show one'way in which and one purpose for which the furnace can be used, the process is briefly described, as follows: For heating up the furnace sulphides and oombustibles can be fed into the hopper H and thence down through cylinder G into the lower portion of the body of the furnace, where they are fired. After the furnace has thus been heated the raw or artificial sulphurets or sulphides, which when subjected to heat will fuse and stick together, are fed into the hopper H, from which they pass down within the cylinder. Their passage through the cylinder down to the zone of fusion in the furnace is regulated by the adjustment of the bell H with reference to the opening of hopper, so as to leave a greater or less space between the sides of the bell and the hopper-opening through which the materials can pass. It itbe attempted to feed'these sulphurets or sulphides into the furnace in such a way that they are subjected to heat from the zone of fusion before they reach or approach such zone, they will fuse and stick together so as to clog up the furnace. In my furnace they are protected by the inclosing cylinder G from the fusing action of the heat until they issue from the cylinder end at or near the zone of fusion, so that the feeding down is free and not liable to be'clogged or stopped. The silicious ores, fluxes, and coarse material generally which do not fuse and are not liable to stick together when acted upon by the heat or products of combustion are fed into the outside hopper I, from which they pass down into the furnace-body A through the annular space between the inner furnacewalls and the outside of cylinder G. As they pass down toward the zone of fusion they meet the gases, heat, vapors, and products of combustion, by the action of which they are beneficially prepared for fusion. They also on their downward passage catch and carry down with them volatilized solids which would otherwise pass up and out of the furnace with the products of combustion. As indicated hereinbefore, the main tuyeres O O are in carrying out my process used to inject a blast of hot air, but can of course be employed to admit cold air or any desired gases or vapors to suit the purpose for which the furnace is being used.

lVith the several component parts of the charge fed down into the furnace, as set forth, I have found that with a hot blast introduced through the main tuyeres the necessary heat for the continuation of the smelting process can be kept up without the addition or use of carbonaceous fuel, and that the molten products can be drawn off continuously, as formed, and do not have to be allowed to collect, so as to form a molten bath in the furnace to furnish heat for arresting in keeping up or supporting combustion.

Where the furnace is used for smelting, it is preferably of such height that when the gases and vapors pass from the chamber or passage E to the downtake they are comparatively cool. The air admitted through the auxiliary tuyeros K K will, by causing the consumption of sulphur or other volatile products which would tend to collect on the walls of the furnace above the zone of fusion, effectually prevent such deposit on the walls as would interfere with or cause irregularities-in the feeding down of the charge.

If desired, the annular chamber E, from which the downtake issues, can be connected with the interior of the cylinder, instead of being in communication with the furnacespace around such cylinder. In such case and with such arrangement the portion of the furnace-charge which was to be kept away from the action of the heat and products of combustion on its way down within the furnace would be passed down around the outside of the cylinder, instead of Within the same.

While I have described the furnace as used in the carrying out of my process, it is obviously capable of advantageous use for other purposes and in working other processes wherever it is desirable to feed either a portion or the whole of the material forming a turn ace-charge down to a certain point within the furnace and to keep it protected from the action 'of heat and products of combustion until it reaches such point. The cylinder, with its walls adapted to resist the action of the heat of the furnace and to prevent the penetration of such heat through them, can be employed advantageously in other forms of furnace than that described in order to secure the proper feeding of the furnace charge or fuel down to the desired place of combustion with full protection against heat or combustion before it reaches such place.

\Vhile I have shown and described as means for adjusting the valve within the cylinder a screw-rod adapted to be raised or lowered as it is turned in one direction or the other, I do not limit myself to such adjusting means. Any other device suitable for the same purpose can be employed without departure from my invention. As it is possible to secure the desired rate of feeding of material down within the cylinder by increasing or diminishing the height of the column of such material at any time, so as to increase or diminish the weight acting to force the material from the lower end of the cylinder, I do not intend to limit myself to the use of the valve and hopper shown or to any form. of valve.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a smelting-furnace, in combination with the furnace-body, the cylinder with walls adapted to resist the passage of heat through them, extending down within the furnacebody, a hopper within such cylinder, a conical valve for the hopper-opening, a rod to which such valve is attached, extending up within the cylinder, and means for adjusting such rod to regulate the position of the valve with reference to the hopper-opening, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In combination with the feed-cylinder extending down within the furnace and having a hopper within it, the bell-shaped valve for the hopper, the rod attached to the valve, extending up within the cylinder and threaded at its upper end, a guide within the cylinder through which the rod passes, a spider at the upper end of the cylinder, having the central threaded opening for receiving the threaded portion of the rod, and a hand-wheel for turning the rod, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a smeltingfurnace, in combination with the furnace-body and the feed-cylinder extending down within the same to a point at or near the zone of fusion, the main tuyeres IIO for introducing the blast into the lower portion of the furnace, and auxiliary tuyeres adapted to introduce a blast of air above the zone of fusion and above the discharge end 5 of the feed-cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4, In a furnace, in combination with the furnace-body having the main tuyeres at its lower portion connected with a source of hot blast, the hollow walled iron cylinder extendlng centrally down within the furnace to a point just above the zone of fusion, means for keeping the walls of the cylinder cool by'the circulation of a cooling medium within them, and the auxiliary tuyeres discharging cold air into the furnace above the zone of fusion, Su bstantially as and for the purpose described. In testimony that I claim the foregoingl have hereunto set my hand this 9th day of March, 1889. a l WILLIAM LAWVRENCE AUSTIN.

Witnesses:

ELLIS G. HUGHES, HENRY WAGNER. 

